GOLF | Opener comes to disappointing close

It was a disappointing season opener at Georgetown’s Hoya Invitational for the women’s golf team.

The Bulldogs competed in their season debut earlier this week at Georgetown, against 12 teams, including Eastern Michigan, Seton Hall, St. John’s and University of Pennsylvania. The Elis finished in eighth place and scored 315 in their final round, about three strokes above the team’s average score this season. Of five golfers that competed for the team, Alexandra Lipa ’13, Shreya Ghei ’15, Seo Hee Moon ’14, Sun Gyoung Park ’14 and Joy Kim ’13, the top individual finisher was Park with scores of 84 78 78, in her three rounds.

“We all feel like we could have done a lot better,” Ghei said. “We played better today than yesterday.”

The team had a particularly difficult first day of competition on Monday. Yale’s score was a 659 for 36 holes, more than 16 strokes above the team’s average score. The weather may have been a factor in the team’s poor score, Ghei said, as it was extremely windy and difficult to control the ball in the air.

Despite an unsatisfactory overall score, the first day did contain some bright spots for the Elis. Moon began the day with the best first round score for Yale, 78, which placed her sixth in the standings. This score was propelled by an impressive eagle on the 17th hole from 142 yards away, which Ghei called the highlight of the tournament. Park finished the day 20th in the individual standings with a two round score of 162. After the first round of competition, Yale placed eighth as a team.

Tuesday brought better results for the Bulldogs, but this was not enough to raise their place in the standings. Even their improved score of 315 was disappointing, Kim said. But the team now has a better idea of what it needs to improve on for its upcoming season and ultimately for Ivy League Championships, she added.

Team members said they hope for continued improvement. The team did not play to its full potential since it was the first tournament of the year, Kim said, adding that the team has a tendency to improve as the season goes on.

“We go into every tournament wanting to win, so the results were a little disappointing, but our team has a lot of room for improvement.” Kim said in an email to the News. “I have confidence that everything will begin clicking as our season progresses.”

The Hoya Invitational is part of the long windup to Ivy League Championships, the team’s ultimate goal, team captain Lily Boettcher ’12 said. The team only has one tournament left before Ivy League Championships, which will take place April 27-29 in Galloway, N.J. Penn, the only other Ivy League team in this week’s tournament, topped the Bulldogs at Georgetown. But only one tournament determines the Ivy League Championship, Boettcher added.